King Arthur's Knights
'Cease, hasty man,' said King Arthur sternly; 'it goeth to my heart to
hear ye pronounce the doom thou wouldst visit upon that fair lady. Fear
not, Sir Mador, she shall find some good knight to do combat for her.
Therefore do thou name thy day of battle.'
'But hark ye, lord,' said Sir Mador, 'there is none of the
four-and-twenty knights that were bidden to this dinner that hath not
suspicion of the queen for this deed. Therefore, no knight can take
this charge upon him in her behalf. What say ye, my lords?'
He turned to the silent, moody men about the dais.
The knights looked troubled, and were dumb for some moments; but at the
last Sir Gawaine said:
'We cannot excuse the queen, for she gave the feast. And either the
poison came by her will or by her servants.'
But most of the knights were silent, and Sir Bors and his kindred were
very sorrowful. King Arthur was heavy at the words of Sir Gawaine.
'Now, king,' cried Sir Mador triumphantly, 'I require ye, as ye be a
righteous king, give me a day that I may have justice.'
'That will I do,' said the king, 'as I must do, that am a just king. I
give you this day fifteen days, that ye be ready armed on horseback in
the meadow beside the wall at London; and if it so fall out that there
be a knight to encounter with you, then God speed the right; and if
there be no knight to take arms for my queen, then must she suffer by
fire.'
So sorrowful were the king's words that many knights had much ado to
keep from weeping.
'And meanwhile,' said Sir Mador, 'I do require that ye keep the queen
in close ward and prison, lest any try a rescue, and thus defeat the
justice that is my due.'
Though it went to the king's heart to have to order this, he gave the
queen into the keeping of Sir Kay, who kept her in her chamber, guarded
by three knights, to the great grief of her women and all the court.
Then the queen sent for Sir Bors, and when he was come she threw
herself on her knees full piteously before him, and wept sorely, and
begged that he would save her from this dreadful death.
'For by my confession unto Heaven,' she cried, 'I know naught of this
wicked deed how it was brought about. And will ye not take this combat
upon ye for my sake? For I am sure if your kinsman, Sir Lancelot, was
here, he would not suffer this evil suspicion to lie against me. For he
hath ever been my most faithful knight, but now am I without friend in
this great pass.'
'Madam,' replied Sir Bors, 'what can I do? For if I take this charge
upon me for your sake, men will say I was your aider in this crime that
they charge upon you. And I see not how I may fight for you except by
endangering my own life without saving yours. But I tell ye, madam,
what I will do. I will hasten with all speed to the north, trusting in
God to get news of Sir Lancelot, so that I may tell him and bring him
here within the time appointed.'
'Ah, good Sir Bors,' cried the queen, and clasped his hands. 'Do ye do
that, for I know that Sir Lancelot will never believe me guilty of so
great a crime. And I will pray hourly that ye find him and bring him to
me in time, so that my poor body be not unjustly given to the dreadful
flames.'
Forthwith Sir Bors armed himself, and with two squires set forth
instantly; and sent his men in different ways, so that among the three
they should not fail to hear where, in the northern marches, a knight
so famous as Sir Lancelot might be found.
No rest did the good Sir Bors give to himself, but swiftly did he ride
hither and thither questioning all knights whom he met, and inquiring
of every hermitage and abbey and at every harbourage. Finally, when
eleven days had passed of the fifteen, he found Sir Lancelot lying
wounded at a broken abbey, from which, in a fierce fight, he had but
two days before thrust out a band of pagans, who would have murdered
the nuns and robbed the church of its holy relics.
Full wroth was Sir Lancelot when, having lovingly greeted each other,
Sir Bors told him all that had passed with the queen.
'The foul traitors!' he cried, and, getting fiercely from the pallet on
which he lay, he strode up and down the chamber clenching his hands and
gnashing his teeth. 'Do any dare to suspect her--do any think in cold
blood to see that peerless lady bound to the stake, the flames
devouring her noble person? That men should think such things, and move
not a hand in noble wrath, shows how evil are the days in which we
live!'
Then he rushed from the room, wounded as he was; and, full of a cold
wrath, he ordered his arms to be brought and his horse to be saddled.
And to the gentle persuasions of the nuns he said he must be gone, 'for
he must stay a wrong that, if suffered, would sink the kingdom in
unquenchable shame and ruin.'
Then with Sir Bors he rode southwards, full fiercely, and never resting
to eat, but taking food as he rode. At night he would not doff his
armour, but slept beside his horse; and seldom spoke, but was consumed
as by a great fire of anger.
And on the fourteenth day they rode into London.
'Go beg the queen to see me,' he said to Sir Bors.
Sir Bors went, and Sir Lancelot strode unto an hostelry to wash from
himself the stains of travel, and to don a fitting robe in which to
appear before the queen.
Now it had befallen, while Sir Bors had been absent from the court
seeking for Sir Lancelot, that Sir Mordred and Sir Agravaine had made a
plot with each other against him and against Sir Lancelot. And they
caused it to be noised in all the court that Sir Bors had gone to seek
Sir Lancelot, and that Sir Bors was privy to the plots which Sir
Lancelot and the queen had made to wrest the kingdom from King Arthur
and to reign together in his stead. They said that Sir Bors had gone to
warn Sir Lancelot that the time was ripe to strike.
Wherefore many knights were greatly displeased to hear this news, but
some would not believe it, and said that Sir Bors had gone to tell Sir
Lancelot of the jeopardy in which the queen's life was placed, and to
ask him to do battle for her.
'But,' said some, 'if he do not find Sir Lancelot, it is his intention
to do combat for the queen himself, and that is great wrong in Sir
Bors, for he was with us at the feast, and none but she could have
caused that poison.'
Daily the party which inclined to Sir Mordred and Sir Agravaine gained
power, and some were for going to tell the king of the evil designs
which Sir Lancelot and Sir Bors and the queen had against his person
and the kingdom. But Sir Mordred said, 'No, the time is not yet ripe.
Wait a while.'
The guard that was set about the queen's chamber was doubled, and all
were knights that were well-willers to the plots of Sir Mordred and Sir
Agravaine.
When, therefore, Sir Bors came and asked to see the queen, they let him
go to her; but Sir Agravaine hid himself and listened to all that
passed between Sir Bors and the queen. Then he went and told the others
that Sir Lancelot was waiting to speak to the queen, and he counselled
that they should let him come, and then when he came forth again, as he
would be unarmed, they could fall upon him and capture him, and take
him before the king and charge him with his treason and his plots.
And with the consent of Sir Mordred this was so agreed; and he advised
that most of them should hide from before the door, so that Sir
Lancelot should not think the guard was strong.
'For,' said Sir Mordred, 'if he sees there is no great watch kept, he
may strive to free the queen, and when we take him it will be blacker
against him.'
When, therefore, Sir Bors came forth from his audience with the queen,
he found but one knight at the door, and that was Sir Petipace of
Winchelsea, a young man. Sir Bors wondered why the guard of ten or
twelve that had been there before was now gone, and he was uneasy in
his mind.
Going to Sir Lancelot, he told him that the queen would see him at
once; 'but,' added Sir Bors, 'ye shall not go this night by my counsel,
nor should you go before there are more of our kinsmen near us to aid
us in case of need.'
'Why?' said Sir Lancelot.
'Sir,' said Sir Bors, 'I misdoubt me of Sir Agravaine and Sir Mordred.
There was a great watch before the door of the queen's room when I
entered; but when I came hence there was but one. And I mistrust them
that stood there. For all were of Sir Mordred's evil company, and
peradventure they lay some snare for you, and I dread me sore of
treachery.'
'Have ye no doubt,' said Sir Lancelot, 'for I shall go and come again
and make no tarrying.'
'Sir,' replied his cousin, 'that me sore repenteth. But if you will, I
will go and seek some of our kinsmen to meet us near by. And do you not
go until I have found them.'
'Nay, I will not stay,' said Sir Lancelot, 'and I marvel me much why ye
say this, for they dare do naught against me.'
'God speed you well,' said Sir Bors, 'if that is your will, and send
you safe and sound again.'
Sir Lancelot departed, taking his sword underneath his arm, while Sir
Bors went forth to find some of their kin. He learned, however, that
many of them had gone forth with the king to punish a bandit lord in
the forest of the Weald, and would not return before the morrow, when
the combat should be held for the queen.
Sir Lancelot came to the door of the queen's prison, and found Sir
Petipace there, and demanded to be let in to see the queen.
'We thought you were in the north, Sir Lancelot,' said the young
knight, with a laugh, 'and surely it will pleasure our lady queen to
see you.'
He unlocked the door of the queen's antechamber, and told her
waiting-woman that Sir Lancelot would see the queen, and in a few
moments Sir Lancelot was let in. The sorrowing queen told him all that
had happened, and how, and he was wroth to think that any one should
suspect her of so great a crime. He promised that on the day appointed
he would fight for her with all his strength, as a true knight should,
and God would defend the right.
Suddenly, as they spoke together, there came loud voices crying outside
the chamber door:
'Traitor knight, Sir Lancelot du Lake, now art thou taken in thy
treachery!'
Sir Lancelot knew that the voices were those of Sir Agravaine, who had
ever been envious of him, and of Sir Mordred, whom no one loved. He
went quickly to the door and barred it with the beam, and bade the
terrified queen not to be alarmed. He asked her whether there was any
armour in the room, which he could put on to defend himself.
'I have none,' she said, weeping sorely, 'wherefore I dread me sore
that evil will come to you, my true and valiant knight, for I hear by
their noise there be many strong knights, wherefore ye are like to be
slain soon, and then shall I surely burn.'
'Alas!' said Sir Lancelot, 'in all my life was I never in such a pass,
to be slain for lack of my armour.'
'Traitor knight,' cried those that were hammering at the door with the
handles of their swords, 'come out at once and skulk there no more, for
know ye well thou art so beset that thou shalt not escape.'
Sir Lancelot went to the queen and, kneeling to her, took her hand and
kissed it, saying:
'Madam, I beseech you to pray for my soul if I be slain. I have been
your true knight with all my power up to this time, and now I will not
fail you if I may; but if I be slain, I am assured that my kinsman Sir
Bors and all the others of my kin will not suffer you to go to the
fire.'
Then Sir Lancelot, leaving the weeping queen, wrapped his mantle round
his left arm as if it were a shield, and prepared to sell his life
dearly. By this time the knights outside had got a bench from the hall,
and using it as a battering-ram, were dashing it against the door to
beat it in.